| Jack Shafer
If few people are reading all these blogs, they've got good reasons. Most bloggers tell Pew they post material for themselves, not an audience, with 37 percent describing their blogs as personal diaries or journals. About half post less often than "every few weeks," which means even if people want to listen they won't hear anything new, and about six in 10 spend only one to two hours a week tending their blog. So, who listens with any frequency? Other bloggers and family. Pew reports that 90 percent of bloggers say they've read other blogs. Only 39 percent of the Internet audience says it has read someone else's blog. Of the surveyed bloggers, 52 percent say family members check in, and 9 percent claim that the news media has paid attention or cited them. But 9 percent of 12 million bloggers comes out to about 1 million bloggers.
Q&A: Japan honors Houston woman
The Japanese consul general recently awarded LaVerl Daily the Order of the Rising Sun, a prestigious award given in the name of Japan's emperor. Daily, a longtime Houstonian with an art degree from Sam Houston State University, has studied and taught ikebana, the ancient Japanese art of flower arrangement, for more than 45 years. A member of the Japan America Society of Houston who has participated in the annual Houston Japan Festival, Daily was honored for enhancing understanding of Japanese culture and building bridges between the people of Japan and the U.S. She sat down with Chronicle reporter James Pinkerton to talk about the award and her admiration of Japanese culture. Q: You said you've been to Japan countless times, usually twice a year in the spring and fall. Why? A: In the spring, there are the cherry blossoms, and in the fall there are the lemon-yellow colors of the ginkgo tree.
Sikh leadership complicated turban issue: Dr Rai
The total land needed for the airport is 3500 to 4000 acres. The Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC) has been made the nodal agency to take up establishment of the greenfield international airport at Ladowal. The state government is understood to have asked the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, to ensure that no unregulated growth takes place near the proposed site. The Airport Authority of India team which visited the site felt that the site was good for development of the airport. However, the team was of the view that an area of 6 km x 2.5 km was essential with two runways along with world class facilities. The project, however, can be started with one runway of 3500 meters. The Cochin International Airport is the first greenfield airport in the private sector in India, planned and constructed from scratch and capable of expansion on a modular basis.
Danny Newman: 1919 - 2007
Newman, the dynamic longtime press agent for Lyric Opera and a veteran arts and entertainment promoter who revolutionized the way live performances are marketed to audiences via subscriptions, died Saturday night at his home in Lincolnwood. He was 88.
He died of pulmonary fibrosis, according to his wife, Alyce, who was with him when he died. The Chicago native had been in declining health since undergoing spinal surgery in 2004 as a result of a fall at the couple's home.
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The gift of art
Instead of traditional stocking stuffers like gift cards, chocolates or neckties, an increasing number of Savannahians are deciding to give the gift of art to family and friends this holiday season. "Art is a great gift for anyone," said artist Lori Keith Robinson, the co-owner of Chroma Gallery in Savannah, which hosts an annual small-works show each December featuring original art for less than $300. "Giving art is giving something that's going to last. It's not like a sweater that you put in a drawer and wear once in a while. You get to see it every day." Art serves as an ideal present because it continues to reveal its gifts over time, she said. "There are nuances in paintings that only come out after years of viewing," she said. "That's how art is.
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